Lifestyle: Snug as a bug

Ceramic
artist Lou Rota is famous for her beautifully quirky insect-inspired
tableware. And her West London home, with a purpose-built studio at the
bottom of the garden, is abuzz with her fauna-fabulous creativity

THE FAMILY Lou lives with her husband, TV producer Gavin, and daughters Ava, ten, and Rosie, 12, Monkey the cat, and Ringo the puppy.

THE HOME
An Edwardian end-of-terrace house, bought ten years ago, near Queen’s
Park in West London. Lou reversed the previous ‘topsy-turvy’ layout (the
bedrooms and study were downstairs, the kitchen and sitting room
upstairs), converted the loft, stripped the floorboards and replastered
and painted throughout.

Lou's design studio, made by London Garden Studios

The mood of the house is like a Dutch still-life painting.
Rich, traditional colours, overblown florals, upcycled finds from
carboot sales and junk shops that lend warmth with their patina of wear
and age. There’s also a sense of nature, from pebbles and shells to
insects, bones and fossils.

It has taken me ten years to make the front double living room work. It was my mission to find a way to hide the big things such as the television and computer – custom-built cupboards lined with the same wallpaper that I’ve used on the walls at one end of the room did the trick – but to also make it a space we could all easily use and enjoy.

Lou's new everyday range of bone china mugs, bowls, plates and jugs.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.
When we first moved in, I painted too much of the woodwork a dark
chocolate brown. The builders called us the Cadbury House. Over time
I’ve repainted as budget has allowed, but it taught me that dark
colours don’t work on the window and skirting woodwork – lighter shades
are definitely better for anchoring these elements in a room.

Design needs to evolve.
It’s a little like the slow food movement – you can’t do things
instantly, you need to live in a space to see how you use it, what mood
it has at different times of the day. It’s best to let things take their
time.

I’d rather spend money on getting the bones of the house right
– and then be thrifty with furniture and accessories, such as vases and
mirrors, which I love to use as decoration rather than filling the
walls with masses of meaningless pictures. I love to collect things
over time, I hardly buy anything new. I like to remember where each
piece has come from and why.

I’m drawn to the beauty of the unexpected,
such as my fascination for insects. Before I started designing
ceramics, I produced natural history and science documentaries, and I
loved all the weird facts about insects. Their strange physiology makes
them intriguing. Perhaps my third career will be as an entomologist.

Lou's original decorative collection, from £20 for a tea plate

Our house is a big evolving nature table.
It’s filled with the things we’ve picked up on our travels, from Borneo
and Mozambique to Turkey and Portugal. Travelling keeps me inspired –
it helps me to think about things in a different way, to absorb the
colour, light and smells. The experience of fireflies dancing like fairy
lights in the trees alongside the Zambezi river and a praying mantis
landing on my hand inspired my most recent collection for Anthropologie.

Lou describes her studio as 'very peaceful - it's the perfect place for creative thinking and full of insects, too, which is great for inspiration'

How to create a garden studio

London Garden Studios’ Marc Salamon designed Lou’s studio oasis – here are his tips on what to consider for an outside work space…

It’s a great way to expand your living space without the cost and inconvenience of a house extension.You won’t need planning permission if height and boundary restrictions are observed.Keeping a studio small doesn’t necessarily dictate a lower price – the best-value studios stretch the full width of the garden.Skylights are an essential source of natural light, even if you have windows on two or more sides.Electricity needs to be extended from the house fuse box down to a separate fuse box in the studio; it’s also worthwhile putting a light switch for the studio inside the house. Heating is provided by electric radiators.The best foundation is created from concrete pads, then the floor raised to allow airflow underneath. Natural hardwood cladding and doors work best, as they wear well with weather and age – you can paint the exterior, but be prepared to regularly maintain it.Doors need to meet insurance criteria – a five-lever lock works best. Prices from £11,500 for a 3m x 2m studio;londongardenstudios.co.uk

The sofa, handed down from Lou’s sister, was re-covered in a mix of floral fabrics to create a patchwork effect. The walls are painted in Farrow & Ball’s Stone Blue. The painting, on permanent loan from a friend, is by the artist TessAnna Hoare (tel: 07956 601766). The sledge, used as a coffee table, was a birthday gift to Lou from an old boyfriend many years ago; the chair and ‘dog’ cushion were from the Conran Shop (tel: 0844 848 4000,conranshop.co.uk).

LEFT Lou sourced the floor-to-ceiling mural of Paolo Veronese’s Happy Union from his Four Allegories of Love from Surface View (tel: 0118 922 1327, surfaceview.co.uk, prices from £300), which has transformed an ordinary work space into a creative hub. ‘I love the colours and texture, and often find myself swivelling around in my chair to look at it.’ The two chairs to the left were found at Kempton Park Market, the third (to the right) is one of Lou’s own designs featuring dahlias and vines

RIGHT When Lou turned several rooms at the back of the house into the kitchen, she decided to simply seal the plaster rather than paint it. ‘My dad was a plasterer – this might be why I love it so much.’ The basic Ikea kitchen units were ‘upgraded’ with an extra-thick Staron worktop (tel: 01642 616880, staron.co.uk)